Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Behind the Books: Getting Ready to Research, Part 3

Because it’s difficult to
create authentic, self-driven research experiences for early elementary
students, I’m in the midst of sharing a series of activities that will
allow K-2 students to develop research skills, such as visual literacy and
information literacy, without actually doing research. As a result, they’ll be
ready to start
doing authentic research in third grade.

Last week, I focused on using
reading alouds as a foundation for teaching visual literacy. You can scroll
down and read that post if you like. Today, I’m going to continue my discussion.

A few years ago, I attended a summer
seminar at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. The
instructor introduced us to Visual Teaching Strategies, a method developed by the museum community to help children think
critically about fine art.

The Carle’s workshop emphasized using the method to
explore the illustrations in fiction picture books, but I’ve discovered that
the method works equally well with nonfiction picture books.

When I work with
students, I like to use art from four books I’ve written--A Place for Turtles, Feathers: Not Just for Flying, When Rain Falls,
and Under the Snow. Here are some
suggestions for implementing the method in your classroom or library.

After
selecting a few illustrations to share with the class, cover
the words,as shown below, so that students’ minds can roam free. When the class is settled
on the rug, show the first image and encourage students to look at it closely.
Then ask: “What do you think is happening in this picture?” When a child has
answered, follow up with: “What do you see that makes you say that?”

As you guide an active
class discussion with these two simple questions (and possibly adding "What more do you see?" if students are having trouble digging in), students build observation
and communication skills while developing confidence in their ability to construct
meaning from visuals.
To facilitate the conversation and promote full-class engagement, help students
stay focused on the topic, restate students’ comments and ideas, and encourage
the class to give students the time they need to formulate and express their
ideas.

As students discuss this image, they say the bird could be hunting or taking a bath or getting a drink of water or taking off or landing. And they're all right. Any of these things could be true. Without the words, we just can’t tell.

This is where the Visual Teaching Strategies
method ends, but I’ve added another step that I think makes the activity even
more powerful. As the class discussion winds down, I reveal the text, as shown
below, and
read it aloud.

Then I ask the children a key question to tap into students critical thinking skills: “Would
you have drawn something different if you were the illustrator?” The students
usually make some great suggestions.

If time is limited, I move on to the next
illustration, but if possible, I invite students to create the illustration they
envision. Here are some samples:

This child thinks the fish and frog should be in the image. Good idea!

This child wants to see the bird actually eating its prey. She also added the sun, so it's more obvious that the dark green area in the foreground is a shadow rather than pollution. Another good idea. Visual literacy and critical thinking are two important skills that students need to conduct research, and this fun activity is a great way to help them start evaluating the words and pictures in the books they read.

What’s next in getting ready for research?
Now the students have a background in visual literacy and critical thinking, next week I’ll discuss helping students learn to extract key content-area
information as they read fiction and nonfiction picture books. Stay tuned.

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About Me

Melissa Stewart is the award-winning author of more than 180 nonfiction books for children. Her lifelong fascination with the natural world led her to earn a B.S.
in biology and M.A. in science journalism. When Melissa isn’t writing or speaking to children or educators, she’s usually exploring natural places near her home or around the world.